By Mike Myslinski
Voicing educators' growing concerns about attacks on public education funding, CTA launched statewide radio ads in January calling on the governor and lawmakers to "stop balancing the budget on the backs of our children" by starving our schools.
"It's ironic," says CTA President Barbara E. Kerr in her spot. "Just days after a respected report chastised California for severely underfunding our public schools, the governor proposes a budget that will cut school funding by billions more. And this is on top of the $9.8 billion in cuts that classrooms have already suffered" in the past four years.
The RAND Corp. report, which was released Jan. 3, documented the steep decline of California's education funding over the past few decades. It criticized California for ranking 44th in the nation in per-student funding, for having the most overcrowded classrooms, and for having some of the lowest-paid teachers. According to the study, the average teacher salary is $39,000 when adjusted for cost of living, ranking 32nd in the nation.
Featuring three classroom teachers from the Sacramento City Teachers Association and the San Juan Teachers Association, the radio spots talk about how large class sizes make it harder to focus attention on every student, how sharing textbooks makes it harder for students to learn, and how state budget cuts have forced schools to lay off librarians, counselors and other vital school support staff.
"We must let the governor and the Legislature know that they've got to stop balancing the budget on the backs of our children," Kerr says in her ad. "It's time for lawmakers to keep their word and provide our schools the resources our kids need to succeed."
The ads aired for three weeks on 56 radio stations in all major media markets, including Spanish and Asian-language stations.
The version airing on Spanish-language stations was taped in Spanish by CTA Vice President David A. Sanchez.
"Starving our schools starves the future for our kids," Sanchez warns. "Overcrowded classrooms and underpaid teachers hurt a child's chance to succeed. We must tell the governor and the Legislature to stop balancing the state budget by taking money from schoolchildren."
In announcing his proposed budget in January, Gov. Schwarzenegger broke his promise to give schools all the funding they are owed under voter-approved Proposition 98 when they took a $2 billion cut to help balance the budget last year, said Kerr in a media interview.
"California voters approved Prop. 98 to guarantee that our public schools received at least minimum funding. Now, the governor wants to ignore the constitutional requirement and go against the will of the people. Our students deserve a better chance to succeed."